Why Rubio Could Kill Pro-Life Momentum
Recently, a good friend and faithful supporter asked me what I thought of Marco Rubio as a presidential candidate. Marco Rubio is not my first choice and the reason is very simple. Marco Rubio has been dishonest about his immigration policy from day one, and immigration is too crucial at this juncture in our history, to be ignored.
Consider this recent revelation about the presidential candidate from Breitbart:
The campaign of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is speaking out to defend American war veteran and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council President Chris Crane. Over the weekend, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) demeaned Crane, who’s critical of Sen. Rubio’s involvement in the Gang of Eight bill.
“This courageous ICE officer—a man that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) 80% has called ‘an American hero’… has served his country in so many different capacities: in the Marine’s uniform, as an ICE officer, [and] as a representative for all of America’s ICE officers,” said Donald Trump’s Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller on Breitbart News Sunday.
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Prior to joining the Trump campaign, Miller served as Jeff Sessions’ communications director.
On Friday, Breitbart News published an exclusive interview with Chris Crane, an ICE officer of 13 years and a U.S. Marine, in which Crane said Sen. Rubio treated law enforcement “like absolute trash” during his push to pass his 2013 amnesty bill. On Saturday, Rubio appeared on Fox News and implicitly denounced Crane and his service to the country. “He’s not an ICE official, he’s head of a union,” Rubio said angrily.
Miller, who worked for Sen. Sessions as Rubio sought to push the Gang of Eight amnesty bill through the Senate, explained that: “Chris Crane was a central figure in stopping the Gang of Eight immigration bill from becoming law. He did that in his capacity as the ICE Council President for America’s nearly 6,000 ICE officers and personnel. What that means is that the 6,000 ICE officers and personnel cast a ballot to pick one from among their own ranks to represent them nation-wide… He [Crane] was a central figure in exposing the Gang of Eight bill and stopping it.”
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A quote from Miller in the article:
“I want to explain just a little bit more about why Chris Crane is such an exceptional person. Consider the situation he finds himself in: he represents America’s ICE officers, who are in a political environment in this Homeland Security Department under Obama where they are ordered every day to violate their oath; where they face unceasing pressure from the political chain of command to release criminal aliens and violent people back on the streets and have nothing they can do… And Chris Crane in 2012 spoke out, when precious few did, about President Obama’s first executive amnesty. And he and nine other ICE officers courageously filed a lawsuit to stop President Obama’s 2012 executive amnesty. Think about the courage that takes about how it affects your future career, in terms of how it affects possible political reprisal.”
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When asked if there was anything Sen. Rubio has done to indicate that he now takes law enforcement seriously, Miller gave a review of Rubio’s record:
“The Gang of Eight bill had the following provisions in it: it legalized sex offenders, it legalized gang members, it legalized criminal convicts, it legalized child predators, it legalized people with multiple criminal convictions.
“Chris Crane and other ICE officers asked for all those provisions to be removed. Now, again, Rubio had all of the leverage. Rubio could have gone to Chuck Schumer at any point in time, and say to him, “Hey Mr. Schumer, I can’t support this bill unless we change our minds on this whole amnesty for sex offenders thing. Maybe let’s not give amnesty to sex offenders. I can’t support it unless we make sure that no sex offender in the United States can get amnesty…’ Did he do that? No, he didn’t. And he had all the leverage in the world, if he wanted to. By the way, let’s be real here, how much leverage do you need to tell someone not to give amnesty to illegal alien sex offenders?”
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Another quote from Miller:
“In 2015, Rubio introduced another immigration bill. . . [W]hat bill did Sen. Rubio introduce in 2015 [instead]? It was legislation to help large corporations replace American workers with foreign guest workers. Was there any security in the bill? No. Any new screening tools? No. Any new ICE resources? No. Just a massive uncapped increase in the number of foreign nationals who could be employed in the United States in place of U.S. workers . . . Sen. Rubio is the most pro-amnesty candidate in the race, so he inherits completely and solely and exclusively the mantel of the official amnesty candidate.”
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Miller explained that “Sen. Rubio has [also] been an enthusiastic backer of Obama’s sovereignty-crushing trade agenda. Only 11 percent of GOP voters think these trade agreements raise wages. And only seven percent of GOP voters want more foreign workers, so that means that… the two pillars of Sen. Rubio’s agenda: Obamatrade and Obama-immigration—at most— appeal to 7 and 11 percent of the Republican electorate at the high end.”
As conservative icon, Phyllis Schlafly explained, “Senator Rubio is not Main Street’s Obama, he is Wall Street’s Obama: President Obama was a hardcore leftist running as centrist; Senator Rubio is a Wall Street globalist running as a tea party conservative… Rubio is the candidate of open borders, Obamatrade and mass immigration, making one last attempt to pull off one big con.”[1]
If you are interested in hearing more of Phyllis’ thoughts, she released a 15-page memo in which she detailed very thoroughly Rubio’s failings in this area.
She began by reminding us that when Rubio was in a position of leadership in the Florida legislature, he was a champion of the pro-immigration lobby and squashed many bills that would have tightened up restrictions on illegal immigration.
When it came time to run for U.S. Congress, Rubio knew he had to change his tune, and he did, distancing himself from the amnesty crowd and promising to oppose amnesty. No sooner did he make it to Capitol Hill, he jumped right into the fray to push amnesty!
In a Breitbart article last month, a staffer involved with the Gang of Eight bill confirmed that Rubio could have been an influence to stop the legislation, but he affirmatively aided it and in doing so, he betrayed all the conservatives who had placed their trust in him. Thankfully, that bill did not pass, but it was no thanks to Rubio, it was in spite of his best efforts. How bad was the bill? Phyllis succinctly presents the breathtaking scope:
Rubio’s repeatedly stated reason for joining the Gang was to get the most conservative bill out of the Senate; the reality, however, was that Rubio sold Republican lawmakers on a bill radically to the left of McCain-Kennedy: a bill that granted instant legalization, doubled annual foreign worker admissions (a much larger increase than McCain-Kennedy), issued 30 million green cards, provided mass amnesty, expedited citizenship for DREAMers without an age cap, removed the limits on family-based migration, etc., etc. Rubio’s bill was supported by every single Senate Democrat, every single liberal house lawmaker, every progressive politician and group in the country, Nancy Pelosi, Luis Gutierrez, Harry Reid, La Raza, Center for American Progress, George Soros, and on and on. Of course the White House was the biggest champion.
Rubio has a pattern. When he runs for election, he tells the voters what we want to hear. Once in office, he works for his own ideals and for the cash that comes from wealthy lobby that wants to throw open the borders.
I know for many of you, your concern and your priority is first and foremost the protection of life, particularly the lives of the unborn. At first blush it might seem these issues could not be more separate, but they are closely connected.
The Democrats push for open borders because the Hispanic vote swings heavily Democrat. If they legalize the millions of aliens who have made their ways to America outside the boundaries of the law, they will have imported a massive voting block to propel them to victory in every future election.
And how will this destroy the life movement? The Democrats are the party of death. If they are able to boost the number of Democratic voters by such a significant number, they will handily win most if not all elections. A Democratic majority will squash pro-life bills before they can get out of committee. Even more disturbing and perhaps hopeless would be a Democratic president, who would then appoint the next Supreme Court justices to control the court for the foreseeable future. If we want to win the life battle, we must defeat the Democrats.
Rubio’s stance on amnesty, if successful, would doom us.
Friends, I hope we will give long and hard thought to the ramifications of this election and of course, significant prayer.
Faithfully,
Fred N Sauer
[1] Breitbart: Trump Campaign Defends’ “American Hero” Chris Crane from Marco Rubio’s Screed, 2/22/16